Dave Clarke – The Desecration of Desire (Album Review)

In the depths of the underground where the raucous and darker sounds flourish, Dave Clarke is a name synonymous with the digital music revolution as his sounds excite many. A preacher of vision to techno with a futurist mind, always pushing forward he has a deep understanding and reverence for the music he not only produces, but develops. Evolving with the technology, his anarchist attitude has forever been embedded within his music as well as the punk in his soul. Now after 14 years since his last full album release, Dave Clarke is back with his third full album entitled – ‘The Desecration of Desire’. Born behind the walls of the hallowed Clarke studio, the 10 track-strong album is everything and more you would expect from the ‘Baron of Techno’.

A passionate Clarke explains that the desire to write songs has been bubbling inside him for some time:

“My first album was a collection of tracks, the ‘Red’ series of EP’s, plus other stuff. With my second, even access to my studio was an issue. Those two felt like collections. This one’s more like a book, a chronology. I’m so happy with my studio. I’ve stayed away from club music. Finally, it’s just me, my imagination and a touch of fearlessness about opening up”.

‘The Desecration of Desire’ is an ode to techno while pushing the boundaries of the genre. While it maintains a ruthless amount of floor driven drums, the album possesses a flavorful allocation of gritty vocals reflecting that anarchist style and Clarke’s determination to follow his own path in the music industry. The first track on the album ‘Exquisite‘ may well serve a double purpose to its track name and the overall description of the album, yet its eerie sci-fi blends and synths drop into a pulsating and ravenous track. ‘Frisson‘ adheres to the same intrepid beat and hungry synths but benefits from the deeply smooth vocals from gothic synth don Mt. Sims. Equally and more ‘Monochrome Sun‘ delivers a powerful bass line covered by grainy vocals from Mark Lanegan who also features in the track ‘Charcoal Eyes‘.

In July 2016, a serious car crash in Serbia affected Dave and his desire to DJ less, but without doubt fed into the album’s character:

“I still love Djing with a passion, but the album also ignited a flame within me about making music, about being totally true to myself, its been a long time coming…”

Yet while the abundance of techno lavishes throughout the album, Clarke never hesitates to inject that burst of punk into his music, as ‘Plasmatic‘ delivers a techno-infused soul popping track that pinpoints directly into all the musical senses throughout the body. Leading the rear of the album with its dark and reverberating sound, ‘Death Of Pythagoras‘ compliments Dave Clarke’s substantial passion, which has undoubtedly been nurtured into each individual track among ‘The Desecration of Desire’.

‘The Desecration of Desire’ is available to pre-order with the album set to be released on 27th October. You can catch Dave Clarke at Amsterdam Dance Event this October, in the meantime check out ‘Charcoal Eyes’ below.